Device for operating doors to elevator-wells



(No Mader.)

`J. P. RUNKEL. DEVICE FOR DPERATING DOORS T0 ELEVATDB. WELLS.

No. 475,022. Patented May 17,1892.

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UNITED Srn'rnsv Pnrniwl OFFICE.

JOHN P. RUNKEL, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

DEVICE FOR OPERATING DOOR'S TO ELEVATOR-WELLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 475,022, dated lVIay 17, 1892.l

Y Application tiled October 8, 1,891.

.To all whom it may concern,.-

Beit known that I, JOHN P. RUNKEL, of Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Visconsin, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Automatic Doors for Elevator-Vells, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which are a part of this specification.

My invention relates to automatic doors tor elevator-wells; and it consists in certain improvements upon the invention covered by vLetters Patent issued to me in the United States under date of June 5, 1888, and numbered 384,083.

In my former device the opening and closing of the door in the passage of the elevatorcage up and down the shaft were accomplished through the medium of a gear engaging a rack upon the door, in connection with a second set of movable rack-plates adapted to be thrown intoand out of engagement with another gear upon the inner end of the shaft carrying the iirst-named gear. In practice it has been found that this construction is undesirable under certain conditions or circumstances-as, for instance, should the door be only partly open, either by design, accident, or otherwise, the movable rack-plates upon engaging their gear wheel would close or open the door, as the case might be, some time before said rack-plates had ceased to mesh with' their gear. The result of this would be that after the opened completely in the manner described the rack-plates would still continue to rotate the gear in mesh therewith, and through the connecting-shaft also continue to rotate the gear engaging the rack secured to the inner side of the door. Itv is obvious that such a strain would result in great damage to the parts and occasion irreparable injury.

It is therefore one of the objects ot` my invention to overcomevthe above pointed-out disadvantage in a simple and efficient manner, and a further object is to provide a suitable locking mechanism whereby the door is locked and unlocked automatically by the action of the rack secured to the side of said door.

IVith the aboveobjects in view the in vendoor was closed orserial No. 408.111. on man.)v

ytion consists in the improved construction and combination of parts, as hereinafter more fully set forth and described.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a front elevation of the cage and a portion of the shaf t with the front wall of said shaft and the door removed. Fig. 2 is anelevation looking upon the inner side of the door ofthe shaft, and Fig. 3 is an edge elevation.`

Like letters of reference refer to like parts throughout the several views.

In the drawings, A indicates an elevatorshaft, and B the front wallor side thereof, having therein an opening closed' by a door C, which slides laterally in grooves or Ways b b and has attachedto its inner side a horizontal toothed rack D. A rotatable lshaft E passes through the side B of the elevatorshaft and carries upon its outer end a gear F andupon its inner end an anti-frictional roller G. The ends of the elevator-shaf t have bearings in brackets I-I Il', secured, respectively, to the outer and inner faces of the side B. On the side of the elevator-cage corresponding tosaid side B ot' the elevator- 'shaft are two movable plates I and J, which are provided with diagonal slots 'L' i.' and j j, respectively, through which they are secured vmovably to the side of the cage by means of pins K K, passing therethrough, said pins being `provided with heads to retain the plates thereon. A lever L is pivoted on the under surface tothe iioor of the car and at one end is attached by means of a connecting-rod M to the lower end of the rack-plate I, while at the other end the lever is provided with a treadle O, projecting up through an aperture in the ioor of the car and adapted to receive pressure from the foot of the operator. These plates operate in the same manner and are sirnilarinv all respects to the plates shown in my former Letters Patent, excepting that the angular flanges thereof, which in the present illustration of my invention I have designated by the letters z" and j', the former being the flange ,ot

the lower and the latter the flange of the upper plate, are Lnot -provided with teeth along their inner margin engaging a pinion or gear. Instead of this arrangement, however, I construct t-he flanges with perfectly plane surfaces and adapt the same when moved in- IOO wardly to bear against the anti-frictional roller` G, which I employ as a substitute for` the pinion or gear abovereferred to.

It is obvious that when the cage is moved vertically within the shaft and the lever is operated so as to cause the plate to move inwardly as they engage the roller, the latter is rotated by friction. It follows, therefore, that if the operator'desires to open or close'the door and the same happens to be partly open it will of course be fully opened or closed before the flange of the plate is past the antivfrictionalnroller. Instead of a heavy strain upon the rack-bar and other parts, as is the case when the pinion or gear is employed, as in my former device, the iiange will simply cont-inne -to bear against the anti-frictional roller, and finally slip by or pass clear of the same without further rotation thereof, inasmuch as the moment the door reaches its limit and becomes fully opened or closed, as the case may be, it will be impossible to further turn the rotatable shaft, as the flange upon the rack-plate will merely bear against the an ti'frictional wheel, and has only to overcome the friction necessarily encountered in order to pass clear of the same.

Upon reference to Fig. 2 of the drawings the operation of my improved automatic locking device will be readily understood. It will be seen that the rack secured to the inner side 'of the door is provided with two elongated slots d d, which receive guide-pins P P. The outer end of the rack upon its upper edge is bevzeled upwardly and outwardly, as indicated at c The letter Q indicates a latch, which is pivoted at its inner end to the door and has its outer end hooked to engage a catch R in the side wall of the shaft. The under edge of this latch is also beveled inwardly and downwardly, as indicated at q, to register with the bevel of the rack.

When it is desired to open the door, the operator of course presses upon the foot-treadle, which throws the movable plates I and J in-V wardly. The elevator-cageinitsvertical movement will cause the movable plates to engage frictional roller G, and when this takes place rack D is given a slight lateral movement independent of any movement of the door until the guidepins P P reach the extremities of the slots. The effect of this lateral movement is to bring the two beveled surfaces of the rack and latch into engagement, which cau-ses the latter to be elevated clear of the catchR. The door is now free to be moved in its slides or guideways by the continued rotation of the gear-wheel acting upon rack D. In closing the door of course the reverse operation takes place-that is to say, when the beveled surface of the rack reaches the corresponding surface of the latch the latter is permitted to drop into engagement with its catch and the door thus securely locked.

In order to make provision for the locking and unlocking of the door independent of the tion with the inwardly-moving `as set forth.

action of the rack-bar, I have provided the same with a keyhole S, into which a key may be inserted adapted to act upon latch Q. I have also thought best to employ, in connecplates, a roller or rollers, preferably arranged in the edge of one of the plates and bearing against the edge of the contiguous plate. This of course relieves the friction between the contacting edges and permits a Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

l. In a device for automatically operating elevator well doors, the combination of a movable plate provided with an angular bearing-surface, means forthrowing said plate laterally, a horizontally-moving elevator-well door, a rack-bar secured thereto, and a rotatable shaft carrying upon its outer end a gear-wheel meshing with the rack and upon its inner end an anti-fri'ctional roller adapted to be engaged in the ascent or descent of the elevator-cage by the laterally-moving plate as the same is vmoved inwardly, substantially 2. The combination of a horizontally-moving elevator-well door, Aa bar secured thereto, a latch having its inner end pivoted to the door and its outer end hooked to engage a catch, and mechanism engaging the bar so as to first throw it into contact with the latch and release thesame and then subsequently move the door horizontally in its slides or ways, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination of a horizontally-moving elevatorwell door, a bar secured thereto having the upper edge of its outer end beveled and also provided with elongated slots, guide-pins passing through said slots, a latch having its inner end pivoted to the door, its outer end hookedto engage a catch and its under edge beveled to register with the beveled surface of the bar, and mechanism engaging the bar so as to give ita horizontal movement, substantially as set forth. 4. The combination of a horizontally-moving elevator-well door, a racklo'ar secured end beveled and also provided with elongated slots, guide-pins passing through said slots, a latch having its inner end pivoted to the door, its outer end hooked to engage the catch and its under edge beveled to register with the beveled surface of the bar, a rotatable shaft carrying upon its outer end a gear-wheel engaging the rack bar and upon its inner end an anti-frictional roller, movable plates adapted to be -thrown into engagement with said roller, and means for operating the plates, substantially as set forth. In testimony whereof I affix my signaturein presence of two Witnesses.

JOHN P. RUN KEL. Witnesses:

G. T. BENEDICT, ARTHUR L. MoRsELL.

much easier movement.

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-thereto having the upper edge of its outer Y 

